Breast cancer is a devastating disease which remains to be a major cause of death for women in most Western countries. It is estimated to affect approximately 1 million women per year across the globe.1 
Britain has one of the highest mortality rate for breast cancer in the world with over 35,000 women diagnosed each year accounting for nearly one in five of all cancer cases. It is estimated that 1 in 10 women living to the age of 85 in Britain will develop breast cancer during the course of her life. Although modern methods of treatment as well as an earlier detection of the disease have greatly improved survival rates, breast cancer remains the leading cause of death for women aged between 35-54.2 
All women are at risk of breast cancer although a number of risk factors have been identified, most of them being related to women's hormonal and reproductive history as well as their family background of the disease. Women at higher risk are generally those with a strong family history of the disease, early onset of menarche, late onset of menopause or a first full-term pregnancy after the age of 30.2 
In the earliest stages of a breast cancer, surgery appears to be the treatment of choice. In most of the cases, breast conserving surgical techniques, such as local incision of lump(s) in the breast(s), are involved rather than mastectomy. To prevent any recurrence of the disease, radiotherapy is often prescribed, particularly if breast conserving techniques have been involved.3 It is also used to reduce large tumours to an operable size so that conservational surgery can be carried out.4 
For advanced breast cancers, when the tumour has spread or recurred, the aim in the treatment is no longer to cure but to reach a palliative control. This is the case when metastases of the tumour have reached locations such as bones, skin, lymph, node or brain. The treatment varies depending on the hormonal status of the patient (whether it is a pre- or post-menopausal woman to be treated) and depending on the type of tumour. Certain tumours have indeed been proven to rely on estrogens for their growth and development, leading to what is called a Hormone Dependent Breast Cancer (HDBC, see I-9). While non HDBC are treated with chemotherapy, where the aim is to kill differentially tumour cells using a combination of cytotoxic agents,5 HDBC are expected to respond to endocrine therapy.
The concept of hormone dependent tumours appeared in the early 1960s, when the model of estrogens action was first introduced.6 In order for estrogens to regulate cell growth and function in humans, a specific protein, called the human Oestrogen Receptor (hER), must be present.7 This protein, localised in the nucleus, interacts with estrogens resulting in the formation of a binding complex. This acts as a transcription factor by activating production of m-RNA from specific genes, one or more of which are probably essential for efficient tumour cell growth.
Patients with a measurable level of receptor protein are classified as oestrogen-receptor-positive (ER+) with opposition to oestrogen-receptor-negative (ER−). About 50% of pre-menopausal women and 75% of post-menopausal women fall into the ER+ group8 where the development of breast cancers can be directly linked to the presence of estrogens. Endocrine therapy, where the use of drugs results in a deprivation of estrogenic stimulation to cells, has proven to be an effective approach to the treatment of HDBC. Originally, two classes of drugs, responding to different strategies, were developed: anti-oestrogens and aromatase inhibitors.
Anti-oestrogens, as antagonists of the oestrogen receptor, have been one of the first treatment considered for HDBC. Their action rely on their ability to bind competitively to the specific receptor protein hER, thus preventing access of endogenous estrogens to their specific binding site. Consequently, the natural hormone is unable to maintain tumour growth.
Of the anti-oestrogens commonly used in breast cancer therapy, tamoxifen (below) is the most widely used because of the very low toxicity profile of the molecule. Despite its non-steroidal skeleton, tamoxifen possesses a mixed agonist-antagonist activity that limits its therapeutic potential.9 In addition, some form of drug resistance has been reported in patients after long-term tamoxifen treatment.10 
Novel pure anti-oestrogenic drugs, such as ICI 164384 (below), have since been discovered but the loss of potency compared with that of tamoxifen suggested the need to design more highly potent targets.11 

For some years now, a new type of anti-oestrogen has emerged, combining oestrogen agonism on target tissues such as bone or liver and antagonism and/or minimal agonism in reproductive tissues such as breasts or uterus.12 These compounds, designed as Selective Oestrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs), are not only potentially effective in reducing a patient's risk of breast carcinoma but they have also been shown to increase bone mineral density and prevent osteoporosis in post-menopausal women. Raloxifen is the first of this class of compounds to be used clinically.13 More SERMs are currently in clinical trials and these molecules might one day replace tamoxifen as the first line treatment for women with HDBC.
The use of therapeutic agents that inhibit one or several enzyme of the steroid biosynthesis pathway represents another important strategy to control of the development of oestrogen-dependent tumours.14 The enzyme aromatase, which converts androgenic C19 steroids to estrogenic C18 steroids, has been the prime target for reducing oestrogen levels. This enzyme complex, which contains a cytochrome P450 haemoprotein, catalyses the aromatisation of the androgen A-ring with the subsequent loss of the C19 methyl group to yield estrogens.
Aminoglutethimide (below) was the first aromatase inhibitor used for the treatment of breast cancer. It however showed a number of undesirable side effects given its wide spectrum of inhibitory effects on other P450-dependant enzymes, and attempts to improve on the original structure have led to a number of non-steroidal compounds entering clinical trials.15 The last generation developed compounds such as letrozole, which combine high potency and high selectivity for the enzyme, and are also better tolerated.

Structure of different types of aromatase inhibitors. Generation I: aminoglutethimide, AG; generation III, letrozole.
Traditionally, aromatase inhibitors are reserved as second line treatment for advanced HDBC patients whose diseases are no longer controlled by tamoxifen. However, because of the extreme good toxicity profile of some of the latest aromatase inhibitors, recent clinical trials have been conducted to assess their suitability as first line treatment for HDBC.
Strong evidence has emerged over the past decade, both biochemically and clinically, that the sole inhibition of the enzyme aromatase cannot afford an effective reduction of estrogenic stimulation to HDBC, the reason being that other pathways are involved in oestrogen biosynthesis. The sulphatase pathway is now considered to be the major route for breast tumour oestrogen synthesis since sulphatase activity was found to provide 10 fold more oestrone than the aromatase activity.16 
In the sulphatase pathway, estrogens are synthesised from the highly available precursor oestrone-sulphate, via two enzymes (scheme below): oestrone sulphatase (STS) which hydrolyses oestrone-sulphate into oestrone, and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17β-HSD) which reduces oestrone into oestradiol. These two enzymes represent the latest targets for oestrogen deprivation strategies.

Origin of estrogens in normal and tumoral breast cells. AR, aromatase; ST: steroid sulfotransferase; STS, steroid sulphatase; 17β-HSD, 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase; 3β-IS, 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase Δ5,Δ4-isomerase; ER, oestrogen receptor.
Several potent inhibitors have been identified for oestrone sulphatase. They all share the common structural feature of an aromatic ring bearing a substituent that mimics the phenolic A-ring of the enzyme substrate, oestrone-sulphate. On the development of steroidal inhibitors, a wide variety of chemical groups have been introduced at C3, of which the 3-O-sulfamate was found to be the most potent for the oestrone molecule. The resulting compound, estrone-3-O-sulfamate (below) led to the identification of the aryl-O-sulphamate structure as an active pharmacophore required for potent inhibition of STS. EMATE was shown to inhibit steroid sulphatase activity in a time- and concentration-dependent manner17 and was active in vivo on oral administration.18 It was however revealed to be highly estrogenic which raised the need to design STS inhibitors devoid of agonist activity on hER.
To avoid the problems linked to an active steroid nucleus, non steroid-based inhibitors have been synthesised. Coumarin sulphamate such as 4-methylcoumarin-7-O-sulfamate (COUMATE, below), where the active pharmacophore is conserved, have been among the first inhibitors of that type to be identified.19 Although COUMATE is less potent than EMATE, it has the advantage of being non estrogenic.20 Some tricyclic coumarin-based sulphamates have also been developed and turned out to be much more potent than COUMATE, while retaining its non estrogenic characteristic.21 667COUMATE, which is some 3 times more potent than EMATE in vitro is now in pre-clinical development for clinical trials.22 

Structures of the steroid sulphatase inhibitors EMATE, COUMATE and 667COUMATE.
PCT/GB92/01587 teaches novel steroid sulphatase inhibitors and pharmaceutical compositions containing them for use in the treatment of oestrone dependent tumours, especially breast cancer. These steroid sulphatase inhibitors are sulphamate esters, such as N,N-dimethyl oestrone-3-sulphamate and, preferably, oestrone-3-sulphamate (EMATE). It is known that EMATE is a potent E1-STS inhibitor as it displays more than 99% inhibition of E1-STS activity in intact MCF-7 cells at 0.1 mM. EMATE also inhibits the E1-STS enzyme in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, indicating that it acts as an active site-directed inactivator. Although EMATE was originally designed for the inhibition of E1-STS, it also inhibits dehydroepiandrosterone sulphatase (DHA-STS), which is an enzyme that is believed to have a pivotal role in regulating the biosynthesis of the oestrogenic steroid androstenediol. Also, there is now evidence to suggest that androstenediol may be of even greater importance as a promoter of breast tumour growth. EMATE is also active in vivo as almost complete inhibition of rat liver E1-STS (99%) and DHA-STS (99%) activities resulted when it is administered either orally or subcutaneously. In addition, EMATE has been shown to have a memory enhancing effect in rats. Studies in mice have suggested an association between DHA-STS activity and the regulation of part of the immune response. It is thought that this may also occur in humans. The bridging O-atom of the sulphamate moiety in EMATE is important for inhibitory activity. Thus, when the 3-O-atom is replaced by other heteroatoms as in oestrone-3-N-sulphamate and oestrone-3-S-sulphamate, these analogues are weaker non-time-dependent inactivators.
Although optimal potency for inhibition of E1-STS may have been attained in EMATE, it is possible that oestrone may be released during sulphatase inhibition and that EMATE and its oestradiol congener may possess oestrogenic activity.
17β-HSD, which catalyses the final step in estrogens and androgens biosynthesis, also appeared as a target for oestrogen deprivation strategies. This enzyme is responsible for the interconversion of the oxidised form (less active) and the reduced form (more active) of steroids. Its activity directly supports the growth and development of oestrogen dependent tumours since it preferably reduces oestrone into estradiol25 and in a minor extend, via the conversion of the androgen DHEA into androstenediol (Adiol), which has recently been proven to have estrogenic properties and to be able to bind to the oestrogen receptor.28 
17β-HSD belongs to a family of isoenzymes, 11 of which have been so far identified and cloned.27 Each type has a selective substrate affinity and directional activity which means that selectivity of drug action has to be achieved. 17β-HSD type 1 is the isotype that catalyses the interconversion of oestrone and oestradiol.
Unlike STS inhibitors, only few 17β-HSD inhibitors have been reported. Most of the steroidal inhibitors for 17β-HSD type 1 have in common a D-ring modified structure. Oestradiol derivatives which contain a side-chain with a good leaving group at the 16α-position have been shown to be a potent class of inhibitors. In particular, 16α-(bromoalkyl)-estradiol28 where the side-chains exhibit high reactivity towards nucleophilic amino-acids residues in the active site of the enzyme were found to be promising irreversible inhibitors. Analogues containing short bromoalkyl moieties at position 16 exhibited the highest activity with 16α-(Bromopropyl)-oestradiol, followed by 16α-(Bromobutyl)-oestradiol, the most potent of the series (3 and 4). They, however, turned out to be pure agonists of the oestrogen receptor.
    17β-HSD type 1 inhibitors: 16α-(bromopropyl)-oestradiol, 3;    16α-(bromopropyl)-oestradiol, 4 and a flavone derivative, apigenin.
In an attempt to eliminate the intrinsic oestrogenicity of potent inhibitors and possibly at the same time engineer anti-oestrogenic properties into the molecule, several 16α-(broadly)-oestradiol derivatives bearing the C7α-alkylamide side chain of the known anti-oestrogen ICI 164384 were synthesised.21 However, rather poor inhibition of 17β-HSD type 1 was obtained, with estrogenic and anti-oestrogenic properties not completely abolished or introduced respectively.
In parallel, non-steroidal inhibitors of 17β-HSD type 1 have been designed. Flavonoids, which are structurally similar to estrogens, are able to bind to the oestrogen receptor with estrogenic or anti-estrogenic activities.30 Their action on aromatase activity is well documented and in recent studies, they were found to reduce the conversion of oestrone into oestradiol catalysed by 17β-HSD type 1.31 Flavone derivatives, such as apigenin emerged from a SAR study as a promising compounds with some inhibitory activity on 17β-HSD type 1 without being estrogenic at the inhibitory concentration.32 
Ahmed et al (Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1999 Jan. 27;254(3):811-5) report on a structure-activity relationship study of steroidal and nonsteroidal inhibitors of STS.
Steroid dehydrogenases (DH) such as oestradiol 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (E2HSD) have pivotal roles in regulating the availability of ligands to interact with the oestrogen receptor. E2HSD Type I reduces oestrone (E1) to the biologically active oestrogen, oestradiol (E2), while E2HSD Type II inactivates E2 by catalysing its oxidation to E1. Thus the identification of compounds having DH inhibitory activity, in particular, inhibitors of E2HSD Type I, could be of therapeutic value. in inhibiting the formation of E2.